The present invention relates to a protective frame structure that is used to mount a power supply such as a battery module on a vehicle, and protects the power supply from an external load when an external load has been applied to the vehicle.
In the fields of an electric vehicle and a hybrid vehicle, a battery referred to as “battery module” or “battery pack” (hereinafter referred to as “battery module”) is provided as a drive source. Since the output voltage is as high as 200 V or more, it is necessary to protect the battery module from an impact and the like when an external load has been applied to the vehicle.
JP-A-2003-45392 discloses a mounting structure in which an impact-absorbing part is provided adjacent to a battery housing, the impact-absorbing part having a breaking strength lower than that of the battery housing.
Since the structure disclosed in JP-A-2003-45392 is designed so that the impact-absorbing part breaks when an impact has been applied to the rear side of the vehicle, and the battery housing relatively moves to overlap an area above or below the impact-absorbing part, the impact-absorbing part is a dead space that cannot be used by the user.
Since the mounting structure disclosed in JP-A-2003-45392 is designed so that the rear seats are situated on the front side with respect to the battery housing, it is necessary to provide an additional protective structure taking account of collision with the rear seats.